


Vestibule of the Wayward Fayth

by Hawkflight



Series: Jikanare [1]
Category: Final Fantasy X, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Amnesia, Dark Magic, Elemental Magic, F/M, Healing Magic, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-13
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-02-20 23:33:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2447174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkflight/pseuds/Hawkflight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are many hidden doors and each leads to one place: Jikanare.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to another story, part one of a small series. For those that will inevitably ask about the final fantasy characters, please note that this takes place only a few hundred years after Sin first appears. I'm mainly borrowing their world and hope you'll stick around anyways.

The splinters pushing into the palm of his hand slowly became numb as a heavy presence filled the room. The already cold air felt like ice against his skin, any drop of sweat the air touched became solid. The idea that it was suppose to be close to summer slipped from his mind as it hardly seemed accurate with the current breeze coming in from a high window.

Though he could have sworn it felt warm seconds before. Uncomfortably so with all the unneeded layers piled on top of him. These clothes might as well have been blankets with how large they were. It's what had made him break out into a sweat after being restrained to this chair that had creaked beneath his weight before.

There were no groans from it now. No sounds except for the heavy breathing of the other occupant of the room that he refused to look at, keeping his eyes closed instead of yelling at the thing like he wanted.

They were too stupid to take threats seriously. Orders worked fine, but shouting his Lord's name hadn't stopped it from entering the room. Either it had forgotten or was a new addition to the Ministry's arsenal at the prison and didn't know of fear, yet.

If he had his wand...

His lip curled, tongue lashing at the corner of his mouth. If he had his wand he would teach the damned thing what the emotion was. If it had a soul of it's own he would kill it.

As things were, he only felt hot breath on his face and the chill that ran down his spine wasn't the cold this time. When a minute passed with the thing breathing in his face he snapped, "Get it over with already."

Dark brown eyes were now open, staring at empty sockets behind a thin black fabric. Eyes that became glazed as the cold took a hold of his body, gripping it so hard it burned.

His whole body was on fire and when he tried to scream no sound came out. Though his mouth was open not even the soft patterns of air issued from it. Just empty, sitting there with hands still curled over the dark wood.

Yet, he was still burning. The fire racing through his veins. His heart beating too fast to keep the heat at bay. Then the flames were wrapping around the muscle and if he could he would have screamed.

Just continue to scream at the creature regardless if it could hear him or not. If anyone heard him in this place. Some plane of existence that shouldn't be real as there were claws now at his skin, tearing through muscle and bone that he knew he didn't have because he had left his body some time ago.

How long ago he was unsure. He only knew that the pain was constant. It could have just been a second, an hour, a day. He hoped it hadn't been any longer than that as his 'legs' froze over only to catch fire soon after.

Though, really, it might as well have been a week. It's not like there was a wall here, a clock. Everything was dark. Everything _hurt_.

At some point he had started calling for his mother, shouting her name over and over again. As if she would raise from the grave itself to come and take him from this new hell. To just... stay and leave his father's corpse in his place. That would have worked just fine. If, only _if_ he even knew where he was.

It certainly wasn't hell. That didn't exist. It was just something the muggles said to make themselves feel better when men like him came around. Because, really, when you died he couldn't imagine it was like this. It had to be peaceful, and not feel like someone was jabbing a million knives into one inch of 'skin.'

_Demen_

He snarled, wishing whatever it was that had just whispered would go away. If he had somehow stumbled upon another soul he didn't care to see it, if that was even possible. He wanted to be left alone. For the pain to go away for even a fucking _second_. Was that too much to ask?

_Tari_

Dementor. That's what the voice meant to say. He was sure of it. Though how one could forget what had put them here was beyond him. He would never forget. That was something he swore even as his neck burned, a coil wrapped around it.

_Ieyui_

He grinded his teeth as the humming sound filled his ears. Who the hell would be singing in a place like this?

_Nobomeno_

Surely they would be screaming instead. What with the way the rope would soon be tightening around his neck...

_Renmiri_

It was loose. The coil was falling from his neck.

_Yojuyogo_

He parted his lips, tasting the cold air.

_Hasatekanae_

His throat only tightened though. This was a trick, it had to be.

Without even opening his mouth a word came out in the same tone that echoed in his head now, over and over. " _Kutamae_."


	2. Chapter 1

"Ready?" Harry hissed, standing to the left of Hermione with a death grip on his wand. If he applied even a single newton more it would likely snap.

Not that her own was faring any better. She swore if she ever worked for the Ministry it would not be in this Department. The air in here made the hair on her arms stand on end and there were already goosebumps emerging all over her skin. They had only been in here for five minutes having snuck in through a back door. Even so, her skin had started to go cold the moment they stepped over the threshold and into this place.

She could see why the Death Eaters prefered it for their own work. The atmosphere was perfect for it. Probably tainted by all the dark magic being cast down here.

The wall she was currently leaning against must have soaked some of it up as well. There was a tingling at her spine, like something was crawling up her back, again and again. Small thin legs, like that of a spider moving up and falling back to the bottom in a seamless cycle. Though she knew there was no spider there with her back firmly pressed up against the wall. There was no room for a sliver of air between her and the stone. Even when she shivered when those phantom spiders were crawling up the back of her neck.

Hermione shook her head firmly this time to get rid of that feeling and for a moment she swore one of those legs misplaced and the feeling went away as it fell back to the base of her spine.

She drew in a sharp breath of air. No. There was nothing there, she assured herself again. It was all just her imagination. It was this bloody place. The moment she was out of here she would be a happy camper. Anywhere was better than here.

"I'm good to go," Hermione whispered back. "Did everyone else make it?"

Harry paused, hand dipping into his pocket and drawing out a fake Galleon that had the letters, _IP_ etched into it's surface. "Yeah, they're ready. Remember the plan?"

How could she forget? They were here to ambush the Death Eaters and take whatever they were working on. It was a hit and run sort of mission really. Take away the Death Eater's resources, put a damper on their efforts, maybe injure a few and then get the hell out of there. She wished they were already leaving.

"Take everything, what they're working on." Whatever that was. They didn't actually know because the Order didn't know. They simply got the message that this section of the Department of Mysteries had been taken over by the Death Eaters. She really wished they had picked a different section.

"Alright." From his shaky voice this place was unnerving Harry as well. "You haven't heard anything since we got here, have you?"

She blinked, a drop of sweat falling from her lashes to her cheek. "No." The place was quiet, unnaturally so. The floor was stone like the walls so they didn't creak and there were no windows this far down for fresh air to blow through. Usually she would find small sounds like that distracting in a mission like this where it was crucial that you heard everything going on around you but right now it just made her want to scream.

"Stick to the walls then, nice and easy."

She nodded before glancing around the corner of the wall and into the longer room. It was a mostly open space, except for the display cases dispersed at random in middle vicinity. Those were made of wood, the glass showing the numerous time turners that had been placed with great care into their slots. Each one of them was broken, leaking so much unused magic into the room that it was enough to make her head spin.

She looked over each of the display cases with care, checking the latches were still firmly in place like when they had first gotten here. That no one had come in with a muffliato spell on their bodies and messed around with the contents of the room. Just because the time turners were broken didn't make them any less dangerous. That's why they were here in this Department afterall. Always being checked that none had become active while the employees tried to figure out how to fix them and run tests to make sure they worked again. Personally she thought it was the most dangerous occupation she had ever heard of.

"Clear." She slid her foot around the corner, keeping her back firmly pressed to the wall as she moved to the next room, inching along with her eyes darting in all directions.

The fact that they hadn't heard a single noise yet did nothing to calm her nerves as she walked. Usually they would of heard something by now. She found herself hoping this was another false lead. They couldn't really afford another after the Death Eaters attack last week, but still.

She stopped next to a door and raised her hand slowly to push at the wood, holding in her breath when it swung open slowly, silently. The last thing they needed was the door creaking and giving them away if the Death Eaters were here. Hermione leaned over, poised on one foot as the other floated over the ground towards the edge of the door.

A pair of fingers came into her vision and then a hand followed, shooting out from the gloom and she flung herself into the door so they passed her by. She could hear the wood bounce off the stone behind her just as the arm wrapped around her throat when the hand had missed it's mark, yanking her back into the dark room. Her feet skidded across the floor, the door closing with a bang in front of her eyes and she could no longer hold in that scream. "Harry!"

There were other spells going off in that room, she could hear them, but only just. It was the breathing next to her ear that was crystal clear and she slammed her head back into the person's jaw. She brought a foot up quickly afterwards, kicking back where she guessed the knee was. There was a groan behind her and she swung her elbow back, digging into the ribs and was rewarded with an angry shout, the arm dropping from her throat.

She stumbled from her attacker's grip, wheeling to the side and coughing as she fought to get air quickly back into her lungs. Her chest connected with something, a desk, some wood furnishing. She gripped at it with one hand, pointing her wand at the spot she had heard the Death Eater with the other and shouted, "Confringo!"

A flare of red burst from her wand, lighting up the room for a second so it glowed orange just before it crashed into a figure in dark robes. Spots of red and yellow entered her vision as those same robes went up in flames and whoever had attacked her was screaming, a blur of color in the otherwise dark room. A crash echoed in her ears and there was light spilling into the room, smoke dissipating from the open door with embers clinging to the wood.

She sucked in a breath of air before darting forward and out of that room to have her senses assaulted. There were spells being flung everywhere, blasting into the walls to tear out chunks of stone that landed with a loud thud and surely chipped away at the floor beneath it. A blue light at the corner of her vision made Hermione fling herself back into the wall as the spell shot past to hit the far end of the room. She turned, arm raised, wand pointed down, "Colloshoo!"

As the spell left her wand she was sliding across the wall, reaching out with her other hand to the display case that was now directly in front of her, waving her open empty hand at the object.

It slid over the ground and she dived forward as another spell shot past her. Her back met with the wood and she took in a deep breath of air as the world around her calmed for a second.

Now that she was facing the other way she could see Luna off to her right, a spell shooting forth from her wand into the direction she had just been facing and she wondered for a moment if it had hit the Death Eater who's shoes she had just glued to the floor. One could hope.

There was shouting filling the room as other members of the Order were engaged in combat, even if she couldn't see them clearly from her rather bad vantage point she could hear them; Ron was shouting but the words were lost in all the blasts, Fred and George casting spells one after the other, Neville screaming about a ceiling collapse, Ginny delivering a hex, and Harry, yelling, "Get back to the wall! Hermione!"

At the sound of her name she pushed up from the ground, turning as she whirled around to face the direction of the Death Eaters, "Duro!" she shouted, wand just above the case in front of her.

"Everte Statum!" She heard the spell just before it connected with her chest, sending her flying backwards.

The sound of glass shattering filled her ears just before her back felt like it had been set ablaze. Her vision swam for a moment, dots of black filtering across the blaze of lights beyond that. She glanced down to see specks of unmoving red on the ground, on her robes, her skin. Blood. She could feel it running down her back as well, could see shards of glass next to her with the sides tinged in red. The palms of her hands felt warm, wet.

When she pushed against the ground to get back up she let out a scream, slipping back so her head hit the wood edge of the case again. Her head was pounding and she closed her eyes for a second, trying to force it to stop.

It was silent for a moment, and then she heard a soft sort of whirring. Metal spinning.

With a gasp she opened her eyes, glancing down to see a time turner lying just a few inches beneath her collarbone hanging by a short chain that she could feel wrapped around her neck. The usual golden disk had slits along it, forming a symbol as it picked up speed.

"Have a nice trip, mudblood." Her head shot up to see a Death Eater standing in front of her, burn marks covering his robe and one side of his face an angry red. "Animus Necrosis."

A shadow fell from the tip of his wand, slowly making its way through the air toward her, like oil running along the ground. It slowed the closer it got to her and she found herself wishing for the time turner to work faster, hoping the spell wouldn't reach her. The dark sludge sprung forward when it was only an inch away, wrapping around her. The shadow spreading quickly. She could just see it dripping down her legs when her vision went black.


	3. Chapter 3

Cold.

That's all she could feel. Every limb felt like it was frozen, as if a layer of ice covered her entire body. Even the strands of her hair felt as if they would snap off if she moved. Like twigs.

She was numb, but could still feel a breeze on her cheek. She could still feel the cold biting into her skin, specifically her fingers lying right on top of the ice. Her clothes seemed to protect the rest of her body well enough. Except for the occasional wind that seemed to slice straight through the fabric. Always in the same place. Was there a tear?

With some effort she forced her eyes open, blinking as she looked up at what appeared to be a white blur in front of her. It was almost blinding when the sun peaked through the gust of snow.

She forced her lips apart, flinching when the skin cracked and she could feel the bit of blood crawl across her lips, going cold moments later, unmoving. With a huff she pushed herself up, letting out a cry when her body seemed to scream from the sudden movement. Her back and arms felt like someone had taken a knife and sliced at them for hours. The snow didn't help matters either. She was still cold but when it slipped into a cut it was a burning cold that had her on the verge of screaming.

After squeezing her eyes shut to help keep the scream down in her throat she looked to her hands, still placed in the snow. Some flakes had already settled on the skin and she shook them off before raising her hands up and seeing the specks of red beneath them.

There was even more red in the snow around her, forming petals that bloomed on a white canvas.

The sight of it just made the blood that was still in her body run cold. How much had she lost? What had caused the lacerations on her body? Why was she out here in the snow? Where was she?

The questions made her head spin, her vision narrowing as she fell back into the snow and the sun was blinding her again, causing her head to pound. Her heart was still racing after having seen all that blood. She could only guess that she hadn't bled out completely because of the snow but she couldn't be sure. If it wasn't for her current circumstances she would think it was luck.

As it was though she couldn't find the effort to get herself back up and she was seeing black dots instead of white. The snow was slipping into the cuts again and she was sure there was cuts in the cloth she wore. The knife - whatever - had cut through it to her skin. It made her wonder, could the ice reopen her wounds? Make her bleed out further? She didn't want to think about it but the thoughts kept pestering her even as her vision darkened. The world no more than gray specks floating in front of her.

When she got the energy to open her eyes again there was a soft glow on the ceiling, flickering back and forth, making the shadows twist and turn on themselves. With some effort she turned her head to see a torch fastened to a stone wall with metal. The wall turned to planks of wood as she looked left, gaze settling on an open arch in the wood. She could only see more wood panels beyond the opening into what she thought must be the hallway.

Well, the change of scenery was certainly nicer than what she had woken up to before, but... how did she get here? Where was here? At least now she could strike off the middle of nowhere since she was in a building. She hoped anyways.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" she asked, looking in the direction of the door and waiting; a few seconds passed with no answer until she was looking around the room again.

It hardly had any furnishings, just a table to her right and the bed she was lying in. She raised the covers up slowly, glancing down to her body and feeling a rush of relief when she saw bandages wrapped around her. No more red. No more blood.

She felt herself relax knowing she wasn't bleeding anymore. That whoever had found her in the snow knew how to mend wounds. Luck would seem to be on her side. Though she still had to wonder how she got the cuts in the first place.

"You're up."

The voice made her look back up, eyes settling on a man that was walking through the doorway and over to her bedside. There were grey streaks in his dark hair, nearly black eyes going to one of the bandages she had been looking at before. As he leaned over her, inspecting the cloth, she noticed the clothing he wore had fur on top of the grey fabric. The colors ranged from black to purple to red, and a few varying shades in between. "Where am I?" she asked, watching as he started to change the bandage he had been inspecting.

"Uebi. One of the hunters found you out in the storm. I stopped the bleeding, for the most part. There's one cut that keeps opening up again, probably has something to do with the way you're lying down. Can you turn over?" She nodded, rolling onto her stomach with only a brief sensation of pain along her back. "What exactly did you run into out there? An iguion? Chimera? Those cuts don't look like you got them from a fiend. Can you tell me what happened?"

What... happened? "I woke up in the storm, and then here." She paused, raising a hand to rub at her forehead as if that would coax the memory out of her. "What's an iguion?"

"A lizard that lives in this region. Do you remember anything before waking up?" After a moment of trying to find something from before she shook her head. "You didn't ask what the chimera was. Do you remember that fiend?"

"I recognize the word... kind of. A chimaera... it has four legs, a scaled tail, and a furry head?" She closed her eyes while the image that had been called up in her mind at the word flickered, never seeming to stay in place.

"Pardon?" The man's voice sounded odd, like he had just choked on air.

"It... it's some combination of animals. I... i can't... remember what they were." Even as she concentrated the image grew darker until she couldn't see it any more. She tried to call it back up by thinking the word and she could only see a black sludge in place of what had been there moments before. It wasn't coming back.

"What can you remember?" His voice seemed to have gone back to normal. It was either that or she was just hearing things along with not remembering... anything.

She blinked. Anything before waking up in the snow... there was nothing there in her mind. It was just a blank. "Just waking up here and... there." Oh Merlin. Huh? Merlin? What? She gasped as she already felt it slipping away. The only thing she could grab was that it was an expression and then that corner of her mind went dark as well. She tried to trace it down back to the source in her mind but other than the snow, the blinding sun, the blood.

Red, thick, running down her back, something stabbing and biting into her skin.

Nothing.

"I..." she had to force in a breath as she stared at the spot on the wall where stone and wood met. Her mind was spinning, trying to grasp at something in the dark but finding no hold.

"Calm down." There were a pair of hands on her shoulders, turning her over. "Breathe, okay? It's fine. It'll come back, don't get upset-"

 _Necro_ -something. Death. Oh no... had she died? "Where am I?" her voice was shaking.

"Uebi-"

"No. Where am I?" she had to force the words out as she tried to do what he had told her. _Breathe._

"Spira. You're in Spira. Calm down-"

"Oh? She's awake? Shouldn't you tell Menth? You know, do the introductions so he can try and figure out which town she came from?"

Town? Is that where she had been before the storm? A town made of fangs and claws? "Not right now. She doesn't remember anything. Just be patient, she was badly wounded and needs to rest anyway." What else could have gotten to her back like that? It had to have been a... a... what he had called the iguion? A fiend. "Leave so I can calm her, Renna. I don't do multitasking." Introductions? Menth? Renna? Who was this man then? What was his name? What...

She blinked. Her vision swimming black. Their voices not even seeming to reach her ears. What was _her_ name?

A cry erupted from her lips and she could hear shouting above her. She could see the man - or rather a blur - above her. His hands were on her arms now and she could have sworn she saw them brighten, highlighted by a glow that sank down into her before her vision went black once more.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You, my wonderful readers, will be the first to know about the Barty/Hermione fanart I did on DA (link on profile) so have a swell time. Also, please tell me what you think of the story so far! As happy as it makes me that anyone is reading this it makes me even more happy if I know you guys are enjoying it.

Her gaze was rooted to the ground, staring at a slighty upturned stone that looked like it would come loose at any second. The top a dark grey but smooth from years of being trod upon. The lower half that was peeking up was lighter, bumpy, a single line cut down the middle with jagged teeth.

If she turned to look at the mirror behind her she would see that her own back was in a similar state. She couldn't though.

All she could think about was what Owyn had told her when she came to. Not even the sting on her back as he applied a fresh salve to the cuts that felt like they would split open again could pull her attention from it. This... it just could not be happening.

_"Are you feeling better now? You're breathing again, less pale. That's a good sign." The man was rambling above her, talking so swiftly it was soon making her head hurt in the effort of keeping up with his words. "Hey, don't go back to sleep. It's not a good idea right now. There's a nasty bump on your head besides all those other cuts. Originally I didn't want to move you around too much and let you sleep, but you can't. Not right now anyways. Focus for me. Just..." He was moving away and she felt a cool cloth on her head a second later._

_There was a picture of some kind dangling in front of her face. Some creature. On two black hoofs, red, white, and purple fur colored in. Each had a different head. On the right, the purple turned orange, a mane around the head coming out of the creature's shoulder, fangs bared. Black horns coming out from the red chest, beady black eyes looking at her, hating her. The left, white as snow traced up it's arm to form another head. One with a light yellow bone coming out from it's face, ears pointed and... There was another head. Beyond all of them it raised up from a coil, mouth open, sparks glistening within. Like it was about to shoot lightning from it's wide jaws, a long forked tongue tasting at the air even though it had four pairs of eyes._

_"What?" She couldn't get the image out of her head even when he moved the drawing away._

_"A chimera. This species of them is specific to the Djose Continent. They have cousins further north in the Wilderia Continent that are much tougher than their southern relatives. Do you recall seeing it before?"_

_Should she have? Was this something she was suppose to know? Some other piece of knowledge that had been taken from her? "No," she got the word out, somehow._

_For once he was silent and she turned her head to see he was looking over at one of the stone walls. There were words floating over the surface, but they held no shadow, and the script was odd. The letters were all curvy lines, symbols. Another thing she couldn't understand, much less read like she wanted to._

_His attention turned back to her though and the symbols were fading. "The head priest wishes to see you, but there's still a few things we should go over before then. It also appears that your memory has been damaged in the attack you suffer from. Considering it's barely been a few days though I don't want you to worry. Your memories can still come back with time and all of your basic functions seem to be stable." He paused, scratching at the back of his head. "I guess that last bit was a no-brainer seeing as you can talk and understand speech just fine. There's no delay when you move your limbs either but if you feel the need to have a crutch or anything else to help with walking when you do get up just ask-"_

_"'Come back?'" She had practically stopped breathing when he mentioned that. Her memories... she wanted them back. So badly it almost hurt, but... "How do you know that? What if they don't? Someone out there could be looking for me and I..." Her throat constricted as she felt her eyes going hot. "I don't even know my name."_

_"I don't." The words hit her like a brick wall. "When I come across amnesia it's usually been obtained from coming in close proximity with Sin and being affected by it's toxin. That type always regresses, eventually. I don't know the nature of your condition but it would appear to not be from the toxin. If I were to class it under a type I would be more likely to call it a form of pure retrograde amnesia. Unless you don't remember the other time I asked you about the chimera?"_

_"No. I remember that. I just... don't fully understand what a few of the things that I talked about were."_

_"You mentioned that. Something about the chimera being different types of animals. It might be considered related to a few, but most consider it a compilation of different fiends. Cats for example, aren't typically hunting down the living to throw a ball of flame at them or to electrocute them like a fiend would. So, animals aren't usually associated with them, or any fiend for that matter."_

_Great. She didn't remember any of this. That there was a distinct difference between the two. The drawing he had showed her certainly looked like an animal but he had called it something else. A fiend. She suspected there was something else to that word that she wasn't getting but she couldn't find the will to care about that right now. "This amnesia, is it possible it will fade, like you said?"_

_"It could fade or it could be stable for the rest of your life. It's a bit early to tell."_

There was no way someone could lose every single detail of their life like that. No warning, or maybe there had been. How would she know? He had explained to her what it was. That this type of amnesia caused her to lose memories before the event that had taken them. Though, it didn't stop her from having new, fresh memories. That was probably the only good news she had gleaned from him.

Everything else made her head spin too fast in her attempt to take in everything he told her. She was only now having questions form in her mind from it all. Like, what was Sin? Owyn didn't talk of it like it was just a vice, but a living thing. What was this toxin it was in possession of? How did it affect people with it? Why did they get amnesia? How was it that theirs always went away and hers was still with her?

That was another thing he had been right about. Whatever had caused this wasn't Sin. She should have been able to get a hold of something from everything he had talked about. Recognized the name of the region she was from, _something_.

None of it clicked for her though.

It was all a jumbled mess that she had to store in an individual shelf in her mind. Each piece of information sitting on top of the dust in a pristine state. The fact only made it all sink in though. She wasn't going to get her memories back.

"There. Better?"

"Sorry?" She raised her head, glancing over her shoulder at him and the mirror there. The cuts that hadn't closed on her back were glistening from the salve but he was quickly covering them with strips of gauze as she looked over the damage. Somehow seeing it was different then feeling it. She had assumed it was bad when she was lying in a pool of blood out in the snow, from the pain it brought on when she had moved. Most of the pain was gone now, the last bits were dulled by the salve.

"You're not in pain any longer, are you?"

She blinked, feeling hot trails running down her cheeks when she did so. "No." She ducked her head down to rub at her cheeks, get rid of the tears that seemed to be constant today.

"You'll be fine." Even though he said it, the hand on her shoulder did little to comfort her. "I sent for a few clothes from the town's sanctuary. There's a chest just outside the door I can bring in if you're ready to get changed and go see the head priest."

She just nodded her head, not sure if she would be able to say the words. It would probably be for the best anyway. Better than staying here in this room when her memories wouldn't come back anyway. He had talked about making new ones to replace the old ones she had lost, and that had made her feel better. Besides, she was sure her body was surpassing the amount of tears it could create for the day.

"Okay, if you need help I'll be out in the hall." Owyn was saying as he put the chest down near the bed before walking out of the room.

She glanced to the red and brown box on the floor, took in a breath, and turned her body so her legs were dangling over the edge. Slowly she extended a foot to touch the stone floor that was surprisingly smooth against her skin. After lowering her other foot she stood up, bracing her arms on the edge of the bed. She only took a few steps forward, away from the furniture to lower herself to the ground as the room did a little spin when she walked. The weight on her legs had felt odd after her time laying down but she was sure she could get used to it considering she had managed to not fall over.

A rush of relief went through her that she probably wouldn't have to ask for a crutch, though she couldn't imagine she would be picking out any shoes at this moment as just walking on her feet had taken enough effort.

She lifted the latch off the chest to push the lid up and glance inside. Numerous pieces of fabric of varying colors covered most of the floor of the chest, along with another box inside pushed to the left.

She reached in to grab at the one that laid on top and pull it from the pile. Long sleeves, the fabric woven from blue and red thread, the material was heavy. She turned the sweater over in her hands, wincing at the thought of the heavy material coming into contact with her bare back. It was placed back into the chest and she started searching through the pile for a lighter material, something that felt less rough in her hands.

Most of the clothes were pushed in a bundle on the right side of the chest when her fingers felt a softer fabric and she slipped two fingers around it to feel the thin amount of fabric. With a sigh she pulled it up, hoping the back wouldn't be a problem like she had found with some other pieces she had thought would work previously. Before she had put them on that was and instantly took them off considering how uncomfortable the fabric had been on her still healing skin.

The fabric she had pulled up this time was a dark purple, the fabric might as well have been as thin as her nail. It certainly would be minimal discomfort on her back. She raised it up to see it fully. It was longer than the sweaters and the few shirts she had come across. A dress, the back was low, coming together perhaps six or seven inches above the waist with a small v dipping lower, kept together by the lace going through the small open holes along the v that stopped just above the waist. The sides raised up a bit as it went to the front, the sleeves were thin, but loose, not meant to go fully over the shoulder in design. When she turned it over the plain dark purple become lighter, the material had an extra layer on top of it that had been sewn on. Mostly a violet color with the same dark purple prominent beneath the earth patterns below it; vines, leaves, a flower here and there.

She stood up, letting the blanket clinging to her shoulders fall to the ground. Now standing she stepped into the dress, pulling it up to her body. The front of the dress was higher than the rest, covering her chest, a small circular dip between her breasts. It fit and that's what she had been concerned about when she first saw it. Most of her back was exposed, including the gauze that was on top of the cuts, but it was comfortable and that's what she wanted. The fabric went just above her knee when she got her arms into the sleeves that hung onto her arm four to five inches past the shoulder. Considering the scars on her arms as well it came in minimal contact with she found herself happy with the selection.

Lowering herself back to the ground she picked out a black undergarment before looking to the box on the left. She found a small collection of jewelry in the box. Mismatched earrings, a few necklaces, and other small accessories. The most decorated one had four threads covered in pink gems to center around a red gem held between them. Another consisted more of circular stones, blue and grey on a metal chain. She sifted through a few of them before spotting one with a thin metal chain with small gems spaced out unevenly along the chain, mostly clear with touches of a sort of bronze occasionally in them. Only a single gem was larger than the rest and different in color, a dark red with slits of lighter red when she turned it in her fingers and the light of the flames slid over it. She placed it around her neck, adjusting it until the red gemstone with the clasp near it was lying on the skin of her mid back, so it was shorter around the front.

She was about to get up when she saw a few more pieces designed like the one she currently wore. Two bracelets with the same clear gems except for the one blue gemstone on each and she fit them around her wrists, fiddling with the clasp so they wouldn't fall off. There was two more in the box, a single yellow gem on the chain and after a moment she fit them around her ankles, jumping slightly when it seemed to hum along her skin when she got the last two on.

Now that she focused though the one along her neck was warm against her skin, while the bracelets didn't seem to exhibit any unusual behavior, but considering they were of the same set - or at the very least a similar set - it was likely doing something as well, she just didn't know what it was.

She stood up, pulling the undergarment on before walking over to the door, her footsteps getting steadier as she walked. "I'm ready to go and see the head priest."

Owyn glanced to the door as she walked through, he didn't say anything at first, but after a moment asked, "You going to be okay in that? It's cold outside."

She nodded her head, still feeling the warmth from the necklace around her neck, the effect apparently constant. "Yeah. I'll be fine."

"Okay. There's still one last thing you need to know before we see him. It's a prayer we use at the sanctuary. Like this," he said while stepping back. Owyn raised his arms to lower them back down, forming a circle with his hands before he did a small bow. "In other towns you would see it used at the temples," he explained while he stood up fully. "Come on."

She followed him down the hall, replaying the actions of the prayer in her head. It was when they got outside, the cold air attempting to wrap around her that she started to wonder, "Who is this head priest? What is he a priest of?"

Owyn looked back over at her, offering a hand when they started down the icy steps. "His name is Menth. He's a priest of Yevon. The Temples of Yevon are nearly a hundred and fifty years old now, but they practice Yevon's teachings at the sanctuary."

She nodded her head, still gazing down at the glazed stone so she wouldn't slip and fall her way down the stairs. What he said made sense, but it still seemed odd. "How come you're head priest is at a sanctuary and not a temple?"

"It usually isn't open," he replied, coming to a stop when they were off the steps.

"Usually?" she asked, wondering what he meant. Her gaze raised though and she couldn't bother to think about any more questions.

Across from where she stood was a field of snow, a wood bridge stretching across the gap between it and the ledge she was near. In all directions the ground around her gave way to a steeping cliff that might as well have gone down forever. It was hard to tell with the sun setting. The sun turning the stone around her into strips of gold, the snow glowing in the dusk. Beyond that clearing the village looked like one made of gold, growing a shade darker as the sun started it's descent beyond the mountain range.

A village that was carved into the mountain, wood crawling out of to form the rest of a building, the roof, the rails. That was all wood, and it glimmered in the sun's dying rays. A thin layer of snow reflecting the light back and she had to wonder if anyone had been temporarily blinded from the sight.

"Pretty," she breathed.

"This is Uebi. The sanctuary is just over the bridge and into the cavern back there." Her eyes followed his raised hand to the dark dot pressed into the side of the mountain, past the clearing. "It's customary to do the prayer when you see the head priest. Do you think you can get there by yourself? I have a few other patients I have to see to currently but I can come and check up on you later."

"Sure, that's fine," she said, stepping forward onto the wood boards that swayed her back and forth gently in the continuous breeze coming down the pass between the cliffs.

"I'll see you later then. If you do need help just ask someone around the village."

"Okay." she said, her fingers curving around the rope on either side of the bridge as she started walking across the boards. The wind was pushing her hair out of her face thankfully, instead of the opposite. The necklace along her neck was still warm, keeping the cold at bay wherever it touched, mostly away from her back. She could feel the anklets humming against her skin, crackling with energy that flowed around her ankle.

Even with the thin material of the dress they kept her warm enough and without a storm raging like before the cold was only a passing chill rather than sinking into her very bones.

Still, when she got across the gorge a smile was tugging at her lips. The fact that she hadn't fallen off the bridge made her nerves lessen.

She walked across the clearing, feet sinking partially into snow with each step before she raised her foot to continue walking to the cave where it turned to smooth stone once again. Two torches had been lit on either side of the entrance, highlighting the downward slope that she followed to a large cavern. She stopped just short of going any further, looking around at the tunnels that branched off further into the mountain. Though by the flicker of flame they couldn't be going too much further inward.

"You're the one they found in the snow."

She turned quickly to see an older man in a dark blue robe, not a single hair on his head, blue eyes peering at her. "Yes," she replied after realizing she had neglected to say anything at first. Then she remembered the prayer. "Oh." She stepped back, raising her arms to lower them into a disc shape and lowered her form slightly to make a bow that she hoped replicated what she had seen before well enough. The motion didn't seem natural to her even though Owyn had said the damage to her head wasn't effecting her other functions. "Sorry," she murmured.

"It's perfectly fine. I'm Menth, though you seem to know this already. Would you mind coming with me? I wanted to ask you a few questions." She nodded her head, following after him when he smiled and started walking to the closest chamber. "We don't get many visitors in Uebi since Sin came, but I assure you our hospitality has not lessened because of it."

There it was again. Sin. "I'm sorry, but what is, Sin? I keep hearing it mentioned, but I don't quite understand."

"My apologies." Menth stopped, sitting in a chair in the small room adjoined to the cavern. "Owyn mentioned you were having some problems with your memories."

"It's okay," she said softly while taking her own seat. This had to be just as awkward for him, interacting with someone that lost all prior knowledge of a world that he had to know like the back of his hand. Then again, it was his job to teach the people here about the world and this person, Yevon. So perhaps it wasn't so odd for him.

"Sin is our punishment for the war just a hundred and fifty years ago. Yevon's teachings help us to get rid of it by obeying the teachings and not touching the forbidden machina. When everyone has been forgiven Sin will go away and no city, town, or village will have to suffer from it's destructive nature ever again. But I didn't have you come all this way to talk about Sin. I wanted to speak with you. Owyn told me about some of the things you said when you first woke up."

"Oh." She could feel her cheeks burn and was glad that the few torches in here would make it harder to spot the red that was currently blooming across her cheekbones.

"There is still the matter which pertains to what town you come from, though the lack of your knowledge before the incident makes that impossible. Still, I tried to figure it out from the clothing you arrived in but I haven't ever seen it before. I've had something similar to your initial attire described to me once, but the locale of the place was never given. So it appears neither of us can get much help in that area. I'm sorry if I may have raised your hopes in the matter."

She shook her head quickly. "That's alright. Thank you for trying." She was just glad that someone else had tried to figure out where she came from. Besides, if someone else had been seen in her state of dress before - without the tears - then there had to be a settlement she belonged to somewhere.

"You're welcome." He paused, glancing out at the cavern. "Because of your condition there's not much else I can ask but, Owyn mentioned that he could feel magic on you. He made it sound like it's what possibly gave you those scars on your back which is a bit hard to believe. I've never seen a spell that could do that sort of damage and look as if it was from a fiend attack. That's not the only magic he found though. He said there was magic emanating from you. That makes you a magic castor, or at least you were until whatever attacked you. You don't have to answer this right away but I would like for you to apprentice here at the sanctuary. No one in the village has been born with the talent for some years now and if you were to stay the other priests and I could teach you how to control and cast magic again. Will you think about it?"

She found her mouth rather slack. Magic? He... he wanted the people here to teach her magic? And based on what they had found she had a talent for it? Was possibly a spell caster before the incident? That was more knowledge on her past that she had been hoping to get back. "I... yes, I'll think about it."

"Good." Menth stood from his seat. "I have a few duties to get to, but feel free to walk around the village. Take your time."

"I will."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to Stefan Gagne for creating an Al Bhed translator, it really cuts back on the amount of research I have to do for this fanfic.

With the high priest gone she got up from the chair and walked back out of the cavern into the clearing.

The sun was completely down now, the area covered by a blanket of darkness. The village was more of a ghostly silhouette beside the cliff it was pressed into. There were flames flickering in the windows though, throwing soft halos onto the snow in front of her. Just enough so she could make out the bridge beyond that, the gap below it pitch black in the night.

She made her way to a pile of stones a few feet from the edge, not willing to get any closer in the current amount of light so she didn't end up stepping out into that pit. The tendrils of black that reached up the sides made her skin crawl, but the moonlight that poured down into the clearing, cutting paths of silver into the stone only stopped the feeling. Even though the temperature had dropped she couldn't make herself go to the village and seek a fire with the natural beauty in front of her.

As far as she knew she had never seen anything like it. The frost floating in the air past her glinting in the moonlight, before resting on her shoulders. At least the snowflakes that managed to land on her back were no more than warm paths of water that hardly even trickled over her skin.

She sighed, leaning back against the stone to stare up at the sky.

The stars winked down at her, the moon forming a crescent in the night sky. Just that looked magical to her.

Magic.

That was something she could do. Something she had been able to do, and could do again. It was something she wanted to do. Even if it was just a small piece of the life she had had it would be something from her past. Besides, what would she do if she didn't take up Menth's offer?

She couldn't go to her own town, village, _whatever_. Especially without being able to remember it. She couldn't even remember a person from her time before waking up in the snow. It's not like she had anything better to do with her time here. There was no reason not to accept the offer with the way things were going for her.

When she was done relearning what she could about magic she could leave anyway. It was sure to help against those fiends everyone kept mentioning. She should have asked about those as well... there seemed to be some sort of distinction between the two. The iguion Owyn had mentioned had been called a fiend and lizard in the same sentence, but a lizard was an animal. So there was something she was missing there as well, just like with Sin. She still didn't understand what it was exactly with the brief explanation she got. Maybe Menth just hadn't wanted to overwhelm her with it being her first day out of that bed in the clinic.

It made sense to her. There was a lot she needed to figure out again and the priests in the sanctuary were willing to help her.

Well, she was decided now, but Menth had said he had duties, and she would rather keep looking up at the sky for now. When it got too chilly she would have to go inside, but it wasn't too bad with the necklace and anklets working to keep her semi-warm in the night.

"Dra pmuut-cuygat fyhtanan."

"Huh?" She glanced around quickly, not remembering hearing any footsteps coming nearby. It had been silent up until... that sound pierced the air. Had they been words? She hadn't recognized it as such.

"Rana, kenm."

There was a flicker of light other than the stars, only there for a second at the corner of her vision and she turned towards the sound of a low buzzing. Metal spun, the moonlight bouncing off it as the contraption hovered in the air. Another light flickered at the bottom of it like the one she had seen before, a small white light, blinking three times before stopping once again. "What?" She hadn't seen anything like it in the clinic or sanctuary.

A bunch of metal, turning on wheels, plates of it becoming smaller toward the center where a black hole was. It was big enough for her hand to slip into the opening, only an inch of metal flickering in the depths as it turned in the air. For a large... whatever it was, it moved fast. First in front of her, then to her right side in a matter of seconds, the low whirring increasing the moment it moved. It was moving continuously, going from side to side but always focused on her.

"Have you never seen a machina before, girl?" The voice that came from it, this machina, it was male. It was the same one that been speaking the odd words just moments ago.

"Machina?" she couldn't help it when the question slipped out of her. Owyn hadn't mentioned machina, had he? No, but Menth had. He had talked briefly about forbidden machina, but that also had to mean some of this machina wasn't forbidden. So, perhaps this was one of the latter. "You're using this to speak, aren't you?"

"Among other things." It whizzed off to her left, speaking swiftly as it went. "Caught in a storm, were you? Your back looks like it has seen a bad time. Drao frecban, magic. A fair bit of luck must have helped you escape serious harm as well. It's easy for those of us with the gift to see it flowing in your veins. The freda syka saw it. Your blood, ed nihc pmylg. Those scars, they are flesh wounds. It's your mind that's become a blank slate. Dyehdat. Do you really wish to continue practicing magic? Not cower from it, hidden in the dark?"

Maybe not. "I haven't started practicing magic yet."

The machina stopped, a top piece flickering red, a soft glow like that coming from the flames high above the clearing back in the village. It turned dark in the next second. "Of course not. You want to learn though."

"Yes," she said, pushing herself up from the stone to watch as it hovered there. That soft whirr that came from it when it was still was practically swallowed in the soft breezes running over the snow. No wonder she hadn't heard it approach. "What are you?"

A left and right square surrounding the center glowed yellow, creating a sort of halo that disappeared before it could fully form in the night. "An Al Bhed." It shot from it's current position to the left, closing in on her so she could feel the soft pulses of heat coming from the machina as it worked to keep flight. Then it was zooming around her in an incomplete circle, so fast it stirred up the air around her, lifting strands of hair in it's passage. "If you had it against my people, you wouldn't remember it, would you? The machina we use, the others are forgetting how to use it. When one doesn't know how to work something they fear it. That's why it's forbidden, most of the time."

That certainly answered her internal question. She drew her legs up slowly, watching as it roamed the air around her before finally settling again. "This forbidden machina, it keeps Sin here because of what it did in the past?"

All four square pieces around the center glowed red hot, like iron about to melt. "What _they_ did in the past. The vuumc are already forgetting that. It was called the Machina War for a reason."

"You mean Uebi participated in the war?" That sounded like what it was saying.

A sharp snort filled the air, the iron cooling until she couldn't see the squares in the dark. "No. The city states." The machina lowered from it's height, floating just above the snow covered stone. "Sin appeared. The reason was never proved. It's just what the temples say." It swayed from side-to-side, slowly. "Frana yna dra pyreflies?"

"Pyre-what?" she asked, but quickly shook her head afterward. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're saying and I'm beginning to feel tired. I think I'm gonna go inside, it's been... interesting speaking with you-"

"No." She stopped from sliding down from the stone she was seated on and to the snow below. "Just wait. You know of magic, surely you know of the temples."

She paused, legs dangling. "The Temples of Yevon? I've heard of them if that's what you mean. Why would that interest me if I'm going to be studying magic?"

"The Temples hold the strongest magic in Spira. The one near Uebi opened months ago, but no summoner has approached to get the aeon. To stop Sin."

"It... opened?" That didn't make any sense. "Uebi doesn't have a temple though, it has a sanctuary in it's place."

"Yes, because the temple closes when a fayth isn't present and they needed a location to continue telling the lejemeyhc of Yevon's teachings when the temple kept becoming unavailable. The temple itself isn't very far away. I could take you there. No harm would come to you." The little squares had lit up with each word, flashing periodically in-between; red, yellow, orange, making it look as if it would catch fire at any second.

She reached out a hand to rest her fingers along the ridge between the little lights. "Calm down." The metal was cool beneath her fingers, but she moved them slowly over the surface anyway, until the lights had gone dark again. "What do you mean by stopping Sin?"

The question set the machina off again, flashing in the night. "Hu. Dryd zicd cmebbat uid. Ed lyh'd-" It's strange language filled her ears, too fast for her to even pick out what she knew to be words. She drew her hand away when it shot off to the right, flinching when a piece of metal scraped along her finger and she could feel the cold air stinging the open wound. The machina was back in front of her then, repeating a single word, "Cunno," over and over again. All the little squares lit up, pulsing a soft white.

Her eyes widened when that light fell onto her finger, the blood along her skin ran cold, still. The cut only tingled for a second, as if the skin were stretching and when she looked down to it she could see the mark was gone. The blood dried and when she moved her other hand over it the blood cracked and fell to the snow below her. No more than little specks on the white canvas and quickly swallowed by the gently falling snow so it was just white. "That... that was magic." She raised her finger, inspecting is closer but the small cut was gone, as if it had never been there. This is what the priests wanted to teach her. Real magic. "How did you do that?" It was a machina, yet it was casting spells even though prior to this everyone made it sound like only people and fiends could do it.

"Pyreflies. Only mages can manipulate them, ones with no connection. Summoners can do more. Will you come to the Jikanare Temple?"

It was mentioning that temple again. She raised her gaze to it, the dark metal twisting through the air. If the temple was as close as it said... if it was open, there would be no problem with going in, would there? "I want to know something first," she said. After seeing the way it had panicked at creating such a tiny cut she was sure it wasn't going to hurt her, but she wanted to know just one more thing before she followed it out of the village. "What's your name?"

"Xei." It shifted to the left. "You'll come?"

"I will," she replied with a nod. Perhaps being in this temple would help her. It was a part of Yevon, a connection to the priests and this world, surely it could be of some use to her. She could learn more about this world through it at the very least. It was something she needed to do, relearn the world. A temple had to be filled with knowledge that she could teach herself. So then the only thing the priests would have to do was teach her how to use magic.

"This way." The metal spun quick when it turned and sped towards a stairwell tucked against the mountain. She ran after to keep up, only slowing when she got to the smooth stone, making her way down the steps that descended along the mountain to a path below the village. A path covered in snow instead of ice, without the slippery stone, but still only a yard wide.

It went on until it reached another cliff, trees that looked to be made of ice glittered in the moon's light. She had thought Uebi looked beautiful when the sun lit it up, but this was different.

With just a few steps forward she laid her palm against the bark that remained smooth except for a few cracks along the surface. The whirr of Xei reminded her why she had come down here though. For the temple. She glanced around, seeing more of the trees, shrubbery that looked like it would shatter if she just touched it, but at the same time the edges were like glass and she didn't extend a hand to the leaves on the trees either. No matter how the blue and green colors within them swirled.

There was a buzzing to her right and she turned, expecting to see Xei hovering there. Instead the buzzing had gotten louder, she could see translucent wings flapping in the dark and a sick yellow green body in between them. Little red eyes looked at her and then the bug swooped down, a needle coming from beneath it that she hadn't noticed before, attached to a furry yellow and black stinger.

A whirr sounded just before she felt metal collide with her shoulder and send her sprawling to the ground as the creature passed by where she had once stood. It's wings flapped madly as it turned slowly, somehow the red of it's eyes looked furious at the realization it had missed it's mark.

The flying machina, Xei was glowing again. Each square a light blue that was almost white, the shine increasing even as the bug swooped towards it. The bug was almost on top of it when the metal spun quickly, Xei spinning in place, each piece of the metal enveloped in the light and then the bug crashed to the ground, shattering on impact. A piece of ice had landed near her, a wing inside that no longer so much as twitched.

"Ennedydehk wasp." Xei was by her side in the next instant, hovering just above the ground. "Are you alright?

She nodded her head as she sat up, staring at the pieces of ice scattered on the ground that had once been the wasp. "Was that a fiend?" It didn't have the strange names like the other two she had heard about.

"Yes. they only exist to hunt down the living and kill them. When the temple first opened they all evacuated the area, but a few must be coming back since no one has been near since then. The entrance isn't far, just past the trees here."

She got up slowly, still looking at the fiend's remains. "Why has no one been near the temple since it opened? If summoners are suppose to get this aeon inside of it why haven't they come for it?"

Xei shifted in the air, narrowly missing a glittering leaf as it raised further above the ground when she stood up. "The temple isn't always open, just when an aeon can be received from inside. It's also off the path of the summoner's pilgrimage and from what I've seen Uebi has no summoners even in training. So no one has had any need to come here. That would be my guess."

She glanced over to where the path disappeared between two trees. Summoner's pilgrimage? Aeons being 'received?' None of it made any sense to her and she found herself looking at the wasp again, or rather pieces of it. She blinked as she gazed down at the ice.

It was melting, water running down the sides to create pools in the snow, but it wasn't just water coming from the ice. Orbs of light were lifting from each shard, a softer light radiating behind it, a swirling mass of pink, blue, yellow, purple, every color there ever was. It was like a rainbow was following each orb as it raised into the air to disappear into the raised branches of the trees. A odd sound, like whispers on the air that held no words followed after them.

"What are they?"

"They're the pyreflies that formed the fiend. They should be heading to the farplane now."

Farplane? She could feel her mind spinning as she watched the last one get swallowed up into the thick branches of the trees. The whispers going silent. How could she have forgotten all of this? It was obviously important and yet she couldn't recall a single piece of information about it no matter how hard she tried. Would she ever be able to understand all of this again? It all seemed... alien.

"Fyhtanan?"

She turned her head to see Xei hovering over the path and after a second forced her feet to move forward. If her other option was to sit around and wait for memories that would never come she would get nowhere. This was her best option.

Xei had been right. It wasn't much further in, just down the path and to the left in a small glade that was surrounded by trees with vines that wound them together so tightly that the only way inside was down that path. Two pillars of stone stood at either side of the dark entrance to the temple, words drawn into the surface in such a decorative script that she couldn't tell what it said. "I'll wait out here. There won't be any fiends inside."

She glanced back to Xei, who was facing the path now then to the entrance. Her feet were sinking into the snow, a chill starting to run up her legs. She took a deep breath and walked forward into the dark hallway that reached deep into the mountain.

It was straight, and she found herself thankful for that since she wouldn't be running into any walls. As she walked she could hear something within, soft at first but getting louder as she drew closer.

Words, but not like those of the Al Bhed just outside. It was different, filling her ears when she stepped on wood instead of stone. Flames erupted in pedestals around the room, lighting the temple up, but leaving the walkway behind her dark. It chased the cold away and she took a few steps forward, gazing at the large stone walls surrounding her, beside some steps that went up to a door. It was just the bottom of the temple where she stood now that the floor was wood.

The flames near the door were darker, crackling above the sound that had once filled the room. Purple sparks floated to the ground, just along the edge of the stairs, making the stone seem to glow. As if it were inviting her up.

She glanced once more around the room, looking for more doors but there was none and she walked to the stairs, hand resting on the metal rail before she ascended the steps, just stopping short of the door. There were words floating over it, but it was in that same cryptic script. That was something she would need the priests to teach her first then.

With one last glance from the way she came she turned and pushed the doors open, stepping inside to hear them close behind her. To hear _singing_. It was clearer in here. The voice masculine, soft, singing in such a sorrowful tone that it tore directly into her chest to swirl around her heart. Was this... was this the aeon Xei had spoken of? Is that what was singing? Why did it sound so sad?

 _Ieyui._ The sound seemed to echo off the stone, softer each time, until it faded completely and it started again.

 _Nobomeno._ She could hear herself gasping when the stone around her glowed, the light sinking into the stone except for one circle. A sort of glyph remaining on the surface opposite of her. With a trembling hand she took a step forward to place it her fingers on the stone where it had formed.

 _Renmiri._ The glyph wavered, and then there was just an arrow on the door pointing up. The stone trembled and it raised into the ceiling, opening the path ahead.

 _Yojuyogo._ In just a few steps she was out of the small room and into a hallway that branched off to the right, though there was a sphere in the wall in front of her, glowing red. She walked over to pick it up from the slot in the stone it had laid in.

 _Hasatekanae._ It was warm in her hand and she clasped the other around it as well before going right, deeper into the temple, that singing getting louder. Words floated over the walls as she walked, though she only stopped when she saw another recess in the stone.

 _Kutamae._ She placed the sphere inside, eyes widening when flames leapt forth over the stone once the sphere was resting there. The flames continued back down the way she had come.

 _Ieyui._ When she managed to get her feet to move she made her way back to the small room where she had just begun to hear the song clearly.

 _Nobomeno._ There was a opening for a sphere on either side of the walls that hadn't been doors. She didn't fail to notice that the door she had entered through was missing, like it had never been there.

 _Renmiri._ Two more spheres then. They had to be back down the hall, waiting for her to bring them back and place them in their rightful place.

 _Yojuyogo._ She searched further in, past the flames that drove away the cold. With each step she took she could feel it biting into her skin, creeping under her flesh. It only intensified when she turned a corner to meet a dead end.

 _Hasatekanae._ There was a pedestal in the middle, a blue sphere resting on one of the sides, another past it on the wall beyond. She collected them both in her hands, feeling her fingers seem to freeze over when she touched them.

 _Kutamae._ Standing back in that first room she put the spheres in place, watching a trail of ice form on the walls and dive to the ground and splinter off into the hall, one going right while the other went left.

 _Ieyui._ She stepped into the hall just in time to see the wall to her left shatter, making a new passage.

 _Nobomeno._ Her feet guided her to the right, back to the red sphere. She picked it up, hands trembling as she walked back to the dead end to see the pedestal covered in ice. Going around it she placed the sphere into the wall, watching the ice melt.

 _Renmiri._ When it was all gone she pulled the sphere back out, only waiting a second for the ice to reappear. When it didn't she went back down the hall, to the left passage.

 _Yojuyogo._ This one was shorter, leading into a larger room. The trail of ice crawled right up a section of wall to her left. There was a hole in the wall not too far from the ice. With the red sphere in hand she walked over and inserted it into the wall.

 _Hasatekanae._ The air around it wavered, a glyph forming above it. A fire raced across the wall, melting the ice on it as well as the shards just in front of it, revealing a glowing square on the ground and another sphere set into the wall.

 _Kutamae._ The sphere shifted from red, yellow, and green. It appeared to be crackling, like thunder when she got closer. With a hesitant hand she removed it from the wall, stepping onto the glowing square in the process.

 _Ieyui._ For a moment she was blinded by a bright flash of light. When she could see again she looked down where the glow used to be. It wasn't there.

 _Nobomeno._ She turned slowly, almost jumping when she saw the pedestal from the other hall was in this room now. After debating the idea in her head to just leave and be done with this place she stepped forward to put the new sphere on the pedestal.

 _Renmiri._ Nothing happened. She felt ready to collapse on the ground and just lie there. Another sphere was on the far wall though. Maybe that one would work? It had to, otherwise she couldn't figure out how she could get away from here.

 _Yojuyogo._ Out of this place. That's all she wanted. Not even sure why she had agreed to come here any more. She practically ripped the purple sphere from the wall, crying out in the process.

 _Hasatekanae._ Her head was pounding, her whole body shivering as she walked back to the pedestal, grinding her teeth. She grabbed the changing sphere from the recess, placing the purple one there instead. Please work.

 _Kutamae._ Script appeared floating along the walls, drawn by an invisible black brush. A whole section of wall went dark, making her skin crawl. It was like an empty pit.

 _Ieyui._ She looked down, grasping onto the pedestal with one hand. A part of the stone on the opposite side of it was gone. As if it had gotten chipped away, creating another circular space in the stone.

 _Nobomeno._ She placed the sphere in her hand into the recess, closing her eyes and listening as a crackling sounded beneath her, as it grew louder, filling the whole room. As if it were a piece of machina.

 _Renmiri._ It continued. Buzzing in her ears and for a moment she thought Xei was in here as well. She forced her eyes open, looking to the dark section of wall that now had veins of electricity running within it. She could see two sphere shaped holes on the far left and right of the wall.

 _Yojuyogo._ She hoped this was it. The last thing she had to do to get out of here. She didn't want to be back in these halls, glancing into the first room for any changes, finding none. Having to go down the long right passage and find an alcove had been carved into one of the walls. A grey sphere resting within, not on the wall, but on the ground.

 _Hasatekanae._ After picking it up from the ground and finding no more changes in the hall she headed back to the the left room. She tried the right side first, when nothing happened she put the sphere in the left hole.

 _Kutamae._ There was a loud blast that made her ears ring. She turned slowly to see a section of wall was in pieces, just chunks of stone on the ground. It had created a hole in the wall and she dragged her feet forward, rubbing at her ears.

 _Ieyui._ She stepped over the stone into a space that was no bigger than a closet. There was another sphere inside and she sighed in relief. It glowed yellow, illuminating the small room.

 _Nobomeno._ There was something else in here, leaving a shadow across the floor. She turned quickly, hands flat on the stone behind her as she edged forward to the one dark corner.

 _Renmiri._ She waited before reaching forward, fingers wriggling around in the dark until they fell upon wood. Her shoulders lowered, hand clasping around it and pulling it from the dark.

 _Yojuyogo._ The wood was dark, a cross between blue and purple, ending with a ebony glass end that was reflecting the light from the sphere. The glass curved down, inward toward the staff. Her fingers tightened around it.

 _Hasatekanae._ With the staff in hand she grabbed the sphere, stepping past the rubble and back to the wall. To leave. Just leave. She swore she could feel a weight pressing down on her and hurriedly pushed the sphere into place.

 _Kutamae._ The darkness fell away, leaving a glittering path in it's place, extending forward, transforming into steps that led up. She was quick to follow it, going up, feeling a door more than seeing one she pushed against it until it slid up, opening.

She slid to the floor after once quick glance around the room. Not a sphere anywhere to be found, and the door had slid shut behind her. There was something flowing on the floor in front of her but she couldn't make herself look up from the stone. That weight from the other room was crushing her, keeping her pinned to the place she was in now. Stuck to the floor.

All she could do was shift around. She didn't have the energy to get back up and her eyelids felt heavy. Sleep. That's what she wanted. No. There had to be something she could do here. Without getting up. The high priest had hardly mentioned the temple though. "What am I suppose to do?" her voice came out scratchy and a thirst for water, anything to make her throat cool descended on her.

She hadn't learned that much about this place, just gone straight in. No fiends. Just long passages and spheres. What had it been for? Thinking about it made her head hurt. She wanted to rest.

What else had they told her? Just something she could try before her sore muscles really started screaming at her.

When had it gotten so quiet? The singing had stopped.

She blinked, feeling wet paths running along her cheek. Her hands raised from the ground, but she stopped from brushing the tears away. If she did her hand would fall back and she wasn't sure she could get it to raise up again. She tugged her other hand up, raising them toward the ceiling to lower them, forming the circle in prayer.

The room was still, heart hammering in her ears as she fought to keep her arms up, as her whole body started to tremble from the effort. She was on the verge of whimpering when a voice broke the silence.

"Hermione?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those curious what Xei was saying here's the, Al Bhed Translation
> 
> Dra pmuut-cuygat fyhtanan - The blood-soaked wanderer
> 
> Rana, kenm - Here, girl
> 
> Drao frecban - They whisper
> 
> freda syka - white mage
> 
> ed nihc pmylg - it runs black
> 
> Dyehdat - Tainted
> 
> vuumc - fools
> 
> Frana yna dra - Where are the
> 
> lejemeyhc - civilians
> 
> Hu. Dryd zicd cmebbat uid. Ed lyh'd- - No. That just slipped out. It can't-
> 
> Cunno - Sorry
> 
> Ennedydehk - Irritating


	6. Chapter 6

She blinked up at a stone ceiling. One she had become familiar with after the last time she was in here. "Owyn?"

"Oh! You're awake!" The man was suddenly at her side, looking down at her from above. "How do you feel?"

"I..." she trailed off after a second. This wasn't right. Why was she back here?  _How_  had she gotten here? "I was in the temple, looking for the... the aeon," she swiped her tongue over her lips, trying to get the appendage to function properly, but it felt like a heavy weight in her mouth. Now that she thought about it her whole body felt heavy, and tired. "Ugh." Her hand raised to fall onto her forehead an instant later. She was so tired, so... "Hungry," she practically moaned the word out as her stomach growled at her.

"I can only imagine." Owyn was speaking again, as he moved above her, moving the bed around, shifting the pillows behind her so she could sit up, though some help was required. Her hands shook when she pushed herself up into more of a sitting position, vision swimming when she moved. "Besides that though are you fine?" He was handing her a bowl now, various fruits scattered within.

She took it, trying to ignore the way her hands shook once more as she held it in one hand before grabbing one of the fruits to shove into her mouth. It was an effort to chew, but her teeth slid right through the flesh of the fruit to the juicy core and she swallowed hard to try and quell the sudden pain in her stomach. Why was she so weak? She had just been in the temple, in that... place and then here.

Damn it. It was just like last time, almost. At least she could feel the memories floating through her mind. She hadn't lost them like last time. It was a rather sweet relief, if anything.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she managed to get out after remembering that Owyn had asked her a question. "How did I get here?" The last thing she remembered was the temple, that name.  _Her_  name.

_"Hermione?"_

_A gasp escaped her lips at the sound of someone else in the room. She fought to keep her eyes open as she raised her head, eyes scanning the floor, rising over a raised platform in the middle of the room. Her gaze stopped for a moment, staring at the depiction on the stone._

_It was of a man, as if he were lying flat on his stomach, surrounded by a dark purple glow, a green thin line wrapping around the entire image. Her eyes were drawn to the left first, of flayed skin right over the chest area. It was as if an animal had torn the skin up at the edges, clawing it's way into his chest. She could even see the bone within, the rib cage, but nothing else, it was just dark. When she looked right she saw the blood first, dripping down an arm, individual drops running off of barbed wire that had been wrapped around the appendage. If it weren't for the missing heart she think he was in pain. As her gaze moved up she saw the side of his face, 'looking' off to the right as his eyes were closed. To the right was a soft blue glow of a moon, shaped into a crescent._

_The whole image made a shiver run down her spine. This was not the sort of thing she had wanted to find here. She had only come for the aeon Xyr had talked about, to start learning about magic. So where was it? Perhaps once she got it she could then get out of here, before she collapsed that is._

_There was an odd glow over the stone though, clearly not coming from it, but from above. She raised her head slowly, eyes widening when she saw a man floating above the stone. The same man that lied dead below on it. His whole body had an eerie glow to it, like a ghost. Somehow she stopped herself from screaming when she saw him. That's what she liked to think. She felt too tired to talk, much less yell at the top of her lungs at the sight in front of her._

_Her eyes were starting to sting again as she tried to take this all in. Specifically this man ghost. Since when did those exist? Had they always existed? She wished she knew. She wished she didn't have this damn amnesia that stopped her from knowing_ anything _. How was she suppose to get anywhere in her current state? How was she suppose to get out of here?_

_The door had closed and at first she was fine with it, thinking all this would payoff. But now there was a ghost in front of her and as far as she knew he was going to take her to... to..._

_A cry pierced the air the moment her mouth opened, unable to contain her frustration anymore. Everything taken from her. Everything gone. She didn't even know where a spirit would take her after she died. If they came down to guide the person or hinder. Nothing, nothing! She was getting tired of this quickly. Her eyes were squeezing shut when that voice cut through the air again, this time softer._

_"Hermione?" Her head snapped back up, eyes opening to stare at the man that had taken a step forward, his own gaze focused on her. "What are you doing here?"_

_"Huh?" Who... who was he speaking to? Her? "Pardon?" she forced the question out as she looked at him, trying to focus on the fact that he wasn't in a similar condition as the stone beneath him. No barbed wire wrapped around an arm, no heart torn out. He was whole._

_His eyes narrowed slightly and then he was sitting down or rather... floating? "You don't remember me?"_

_"Ah..." Remember him? Wait. She_ knew  _him. Then... when he had spoken just now to her. To her! He had been using her name? That had to be it, that... A sob escaped her as she felt tears running down over her face again. Her name was Hermione. She had thought she had lost it. "You know me?" She wanted it confirmed. She_ needed  _it confirmed._

_"Yes," he replied, still gazing at her, but his eyes seemed to have softened._

_She nearly collapsed to the floor at that word. Someone she knew, finally. "What..." Gosh, this was going to sound so weird. "What's your name?"_

_His lips were thin as a twig for a moment but he answered her a second later, "Barty."_

_"Thank you," she muttered, not able to manage much more than that. Her throat seemed to be closing up on her._

_"For?"_

_Hermione took a deep breath, fighting to get the words out as her eyelids weighed down on her. "My name."_

"We found you on the steps of the temple leading up to the Cloister of Trials. You had passed out, probably from the trials within. It did take awhile to find you though considering you had been in the trials and no one knew where you were."

It had? Well, she supposed that made sense. In a way. But what about... "On the steps? Not inside?"

"No," Owyn replied. "We're not allowed inside. No one but the summoner is allowed to go in and speak with the fayth to get the aeon."

The fayth? "Barty." She glanced around, wanting to see him again, to thank him for the simple act of saying her name again and again, until she couldn't speak anymore. "Where is he?"

Owyn only frowned when her gaze landed back on him. "We didn't see anyone else in the temple. It was just you. Did you... remember something from your past?"

"No-" she began, stopping short before shaking her head firmly. "Yes, my name. The man, Barty, he told me my name within the temple. In the..." What had it been? Just a room, but everything in there had a specific name. Those spheres probably had them as well. She was still missing so much. "The last room."

"The Chamber of the Fayth?" When she looked back to Owyn he was staring at her. "You spoke with the Fayth? Did you get the aeon?"

"I... I don't know." She had spoken with the fayth? The ticket to getting the aeon? What she had gone in there for. But how was she to know that she had gotten it?

"Get some rest, eat, drink. Gather up your strength and I'll come back with Menth so we can start your training in the magic arts. With your natural magical skill we should be able to see if you were successful in obtaining the aeon soon enough Miss..."

"Hermione. Just Hermione."


End file.
